


wish i knew it was easy as this

by oldpapertowns



Series: chemical christmas 2020 [14]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ficlet, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Mario Kart, chemical christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldpapertowns/pseuds/oldpapertowns
Summary: “Yes!” Sokka yells when his blue shell hits Aang’s car. “Take that, Yoshi!”Aang wails when Sokka’s Waluigi zooms by, overtaking him easily. “That was the closest I’ve ever been to coming in first!”Sokka blows a raspberry in response, then stops abruptly when Katara passes by him. “Fucker!”Katara laughs as ‘7/7’ flashes across her screen. “Last lap! See if you can keep up!”
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko, The Gaang & The Gaang
Series: chemical christmas 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036416
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	wish i knew it was easy as this

**Author's Note:**

> day 14 of chemical christmas - secret! prompt list by @saintmichale_ on instagram
> 
> title from ‘secrets’ by makeout
> 
> as you may have seen in the header thingy, this work is set in my very creatively named ‘atla band au.’ i’ve had an idea for that one for a while now but that, along with another wip, has been put on the back burner bc of chemical christmas. however, i’ve figured out a way to worm it into here!! so! here’s a prologue of sorts
> 
> a few things about this au that you should probably know about before i throw you into the universe:  
> » it’s set in the atlaverse, but the characters are just normal people. instead of being the fire lord, ozai was the head of the biggest record company. he got thrown in jail and now zhao is in charge. this record company is also the one that signed ‘honor to the fire lords,’ aka the band that consists of jet, azula, mai, and zuko  
> » sokka, katara, toph, and aang are in another band called ‘avatar’ which started as a side project but they went viral on yt. not signed to a label atm  
> » suki and the rest of the kyoshi warriors are in a girl group called ‘kyoshi.’ there are 5 of them who sing, which includes suki. the rest of them dance w fans (search up ‘jasmine flowers agt’ and then make everything more… modern and girl group-y, i guess) (unrelated but i also came across this thing called ‘double fan form’ which i just found cool)  
> » there’s so much more but i’ll let you get on w it lmao happy reading!!

“Yes!” Sokka yells when his blue shell hits Aang’s car. “Take that, Yoshi!”

Aang wails when Sokka’s Waluigi zooms by, overtaking him easily. “That was the closest I’ve ever been to coming in first!”

Sokka blows a raspberry in response, then stops abruptly when Katara passes by him. “Fucker!”

Katara laughs as ‘7/7’ flashes across her screen. “Last lap! See if you can keep up!”

“Another exciting day of Mario Kart in Avatar’s bus because we don’t have anything else to pass the time,” Toph says to her phone camera, deadpan. Then she yawns. “Good thing it’s got a shit ton of sound effects.”

Zuko, in his spot next to Sokka, is somewhat unfortunately glued to the screen. He hadn’t known about Mario Kart until he’d befriended the members of Avatar (and Suki), which means he  _ sucks _ at it when compared to the veterans. So instead, he watches Sokka play.

The rest of his band is still in their bus. Zuko should probably be with them, but Sokka had said Avatar’s bus had an empty bunk and that Zuko should join Avatar and Suki because they’re all going to the same venue anyways. Zuko hadn’t been able to resist, so now he’s in Avatar’s moving metal tube instead of Honor’s, watching as Waluigi just barely surpasses Rosalina on the TV.

_ FINISH! _ Sokka’s section of the TV declares.

Sokka gasps. “I beat Katara?” He leaps up, pumping his fist in the air as he whoops, “I beat Katara!”

Zuko feels a smile growing on his face as he watches his  ~~ crush ~~ friend celebrate his victory over the reigning champion of Mario Kart in Avatar. He tilts his head up to watch Sokka do some weird victory dance. “You won, Sokka,” he says, his smile threatening to take over his entire face.

“I fucking did!” Sokka grins down at Zuko, then swoops down, seemingly on impulse, to kiss Zuko. On the lips.

When Sokka moves away, Zuko blinks in shock, feeling his smile melt off his face. It comes back bigger than ever. He looks at Sokka, who’s sitting next to him with wide eyes and an even wider grin, looking a bit relieved but mostly ecstatic. Zuko grins back, reigning in the urge to kiss Sokka for all eternity because there are a  _ lot _ of people staring at them right now.

“Finally!” Suki’s beaming at the two of them. “We were wondering how long it would take for you two to get together.”

“Did they kiss?” Toph asks, digging around in her bag for something.

“Yes.” Aang and Katara answer at the same time, both of them looking elated. Katara also looks… triumphant?

“Damn it!” Toph makes a face as she draws out two $20 bills, handing them to Suki and Katara. “I thought it would take you two dunderheads more time.”

Zuko blinks. “You guys were… betting on us?”

“I’m happy for you two, don’t get me wrong,” says Toph, shoving her wallet back in her bag. “But I genuinely thought it would take you more time to realize your feelings.”

“We did  _ not- _ ” Sokka starts, somewhat offended, but is cut off by Aang’s heavy sigh. He also has his wallet out.

“I’ve lost 40 dollars and I’m about to lose 40 more to Mai and Azula,” he says mournfully.

“Azula?” Zuko nearly shrieks.  _ “Mai?” _

Katara looks amused. “You’re not the only one who’s friends with us, Zuko.”

Zuko stares at her, a pout beginning to form on his lips. His own  _ sister _ has been betting on his damn  _ love life. _ Spirits help him.

Sokka laughs at the look on Zuko’s face, leaning in to kiss him again. “Think of it this way, Z: you just caused several people to lose 80 dollars.”

Zuko sighs deeply, taking Sokka’s hand in his own. Waluigi’s still celebrating on the TV. “Yeah, whatever. I got you out of it.”

Everyone coos except for Katara, who makes a playful face at the two of them. “Oogie.”

Sokka sticks a tongue out, hauling Zuko in closer so their sides are pressed closer together. Zuko snuggles closer to him, not missing the distance he hadn’t been able to close before. (Really? It was this easy? All he had to do was tell Sokka he won a Mario Kart round for them to get together?)

“We’re going to have to keep this a secret, aren’t we?” Sokka asks as he hands Suki his remote.

Suki pauses, then makes a sympathetic face. “At least until this tour is over, if you want to avoid bad press. I’m sorry.”

Zuko shakes his head. “It’s okay.”

Sokka watches Suki and Katara prepare for their next match, arm around Zuko. “It’ll be a pain in the ass, but-”

“Better than nothing,” Zuko finishes softly.

Sokka smiles at Zuko, though there’s a trace of pain in his face. “Yeah.”

The two of them settle back against the bottom of the couch and watch Suki play against Katara, Link against Rosalina.

Coming out to their steadily growing fanbases won’t be an easy thing to accomplish, but at the moment, Zuko’s fine with simply sitting next to Sokka. They’ll deal with that later.

On the TV, Rosalina hurls a green shell at Link and crosses the finish line first. Zuko smiles and closes his eyes, surrounded by the sound of upbeat music and laughter, Sokka’s arm a comforting weight around his waist.

**Author's Note:**

> apologies for the quality its finals week and my only saving grace is atla. and also school being online, bc it means i can cheat (this is a joke) (...kinda)
> 
> tytyty for reading!! feel free to leave kudos/comments, i love those. stay safe, stay sane, etc. <33


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